This clear, readable introduction to the popular field of military history is now available in a refreshed and updated second edition. It shows that military history encompasses not just accounts of campaigns and battles but includes a wide range of perspectives on all aspects of past military organization and activity. In concise chapters it explains the fundamental features of the field, including: The history of military history, showing how it has developed from ancient times to the present; The key ideas and concepts that shape analysis of military activity; it argues that military history is as methodologically and philosophically sophisticated as any field of history; The current controversies about which military historians argue, and why they are important; A survey of who does military history, where it is taught and published, and how it is practiced; A look at where military history is headed in the future. The new edition of What is Military History? provides an up-to-date bibliography and cutting edge new case studies, including counterinsurgency, and as such continues to be ideal for classes in military history and in historiography generally, as well as for anyone interested in learning more about the dynamics of a rich and growing area of study.

This book presents a clear, readable introduction to a popular field of history. It shows that military history encompasses a wide range of perpectives on all aspects of past militaty organization and activity.

The world's weaponry is showcased inside this spectacular visual guide. From the spears and swords of ancient times to the guns and grenades of modern warfare, 5,000 years of weaponry are explored and explained in unprecedented detail. Military History profiles key arms and armaments and conveys technologies and tactics across hundreds of pages of dramatic photography and accessible text. Find out how war is waged between battleships at sea, tanks on the battlefield, and fighter planes in the skies. Climb siege towers, drive chariots, enter medieval fortresses, fly unmanned drones, and detect stealth bombers. You will also experience virtual tours of iconic vehicles, including the T-34 Tank, the Lockheed F-117 Stealth Bomber, and the AH-64 Apache helicopter. And discover the leaders, battles, and weapons of war that have changed the course of history, and understand the lasting impact of global conflicts. This complete history of weaponry is essential reading for military enthusiasts of all ages.

American Military History provides the United States Army-in particular, its young officers, NCOs, and cadets-with a comprehensive but brief account of its past. The Center of Military History first published this work in 1956 as a textbook for senior ROTC courses. Since then it has gone through a number of updates and revisions, but the primary intent has remained the same. Support for military history education has always been a principal mission of the Center, and this new edition of an invaluable history furthers that purpose. The history of an active organization tends to expand rapidly as the organization grows larger and more complex. The period since the Vietnam War, at which point the most recent edition ended, has been a significant one for the Army, a busy period of expanding roles and missions and of fundamental organizational changes. In particular, the explosion of missions and deployments since 11 September 2001 has necessitated the creation of additional, open-ended chapters in the story of the U.S. Army in action. This first volume covers the Army's history from its birth in 1775 to the eve of World War I. By 1917, the United States was already a world power. The Army had sent large expeditionary forces beyond the American hemisphere, and at the beginning of the new century Secretary of War Elihu Root had proposed changes and reforms that within a generation would shape the Army of the future. But world war-global war-was still to come. The second volume of this new edition will take up that story and extend it into the twenty-first century and the early years of the war on terrorism and includes an analysis of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq up to January 2009.

This volume re-positions military history at the beginning of the 21st century. Jeremy Black reveals the main trends in the practice and approach to military history and proposes a new manifesto for the subject to move forward.